The Association recently met with our newly elected MP, Tom Greatrex. Members of the Associations management committee took the opportunity to highlight the issues facing the Association and it's tenants. We discussed the proposed changes to Housing Benefit and the impact this will have. While the government has since dropped the idea of reducing housing benefit by 10% for people unemployed for more than a year, there are still a number of proposed reforms that could have unintended consequences for housing associations. In particular the Association is concerned about the proposals to reduce Benefit to people who are under occupying their property and the proposal to introduce a universal credit and take away the option of direct payments. Tom agreed to raise our concerns in Parliament as the welfare Reform Bill is debated and we will keep tenants advised of the likely impact that this will have in future newsletters. During the meeting the committee also highlighted the lack of funding available for the construction of new homes. This is a devolved issue to the Scottish Parliament and we propose to set up a similar meeting with James Kelly our MSP in the near future.